Moderated by David Folkenflik, media correspondent, National Public Radio

Thursday, May 07, 2009, 7:30 pm

Fort Mason Center
Golden Gate Room at the Conference Center, Building A
San Francisco, CA 94123

From town tabloids to major metropolitan dailies, newspapers seem to be in their last throes. The availability of free and instant news online, the high profit margins demanded by media conglomerates, and the steep declines in advertising revenue have hit newspapers hard. They have been forced to lay off employees, trim their pages, close print operations or–as The Hearst Corp. has threatened to do to the San Francisco Chronicle–shut down completely. Will a new model or medium rise to do what newspapers have aimed to do for over a century–pursue accuracy and objectivity, doggedly investigate stories, act as a check on power, embody a community’s conversation with itself, and write a first draft of history? Or will the demise of newspapers mean a radical shift in what we know and how we know it? Zócalo hosts a panel–including former Washington Post managing editor Steve Coll, Slate founder Michael Kinsley, and former San Francisco Chronicle executive vice president and editor Phil Bronstein–to discuss the decline of print media and the future of journalism.

The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute based in Washington, D.C. For more information, click www.newamerica.net.

My old officemate, Eve Batey, ex of SFist, is launching the San Francisco Appeal news web site this week with former Chronicle investigative reporter and editor, Chuck Finnie. The SF-based Public Press, describing itself as non-profit, non-commercial, donation-supported news operation, recently advertised on Craigslist for journalists and ended up hiring former Oakland Tribune editor, Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig, a definite pro.